Delivering comprehensive wellness solutions
You and your family deserve the best
FAQs
The AirSync Team is always here to answer questions and concerns. Following are some common ones we hear from patients and parents.
How long does treatment take to complete?
Every treatment plan is individualized. After your exam and Dr. Kimberly’s case planning, we can better estimate your timeline. On average, treatment lasts 1–3 years depending on age, oral function, cranial alignment, and airway health. Your plan may include cranial work, expansion, restriction releases, myofunctional therapy, and orthodontics.
How often will I need to visit the AirSync office?
Depending on Dr. Kimberly’s recommendations, you may need weekly visits for the first few weeks. As treatment progresses, we can monitor you through our Grin app, which allows our team to review photos and videos of your progress and message you directly saving you frequent trips to the office. For young children, we see them for 4 appointments over about a year. Teens and adults, about 6-8 appointments over about a 2-year period.
Will there be pain with treatment?
Some treatments, such as tissue releases or removal or placement of a palatal expander (MARPE), can cause mild discomfort, but we have a gentle approach and do everything possible to limit pain. Most patients do well with over-the-counter medications before and after appointments as needed. Our team will provide detailed instructions to ensure healing and comfort are well managed.
How will I be able to work/speak with a MARPE? What can I expect after the procedure?
- Within a few days of installing the MARPE, speech returns to normal. More often the Invisalign aligners cause a little more disruption to speech. But, with a little practice you are just fine!
- You will have more saliva production for a week or so.
- Discomfort is well managed with alternating Tylenol/Advil and a short course of steroids.
- As soon as the suture teases open, your nasal breathing and airflow start to increase; you start to feel the nasal breathing awesomeness right away!
- For public-facing patients, in many cases we can do the no diastema protocol which means that the space between the front two teeth is kept to a minimum throughout treatment.
Do people look much different after expansion?
There are only positive enhancements to patients’ appearance from airway treatments. In fact, after completing expansion, patients see positive changes such as higher cheek bones, a wider, fuller and gorgeous smile, fuller lips, optimized profiles, improved nasal support improved facial symmetry and more.
How does mouth breathing impact tonsils and adenoids?
Mouth breathing is not natural and forces turbulent, pressurized unfiltered air onto the tonsils and adenoids, causing inflammation, enlargement, and generally airway obstruction. This can lead to apneas, chronic fight/flight, poor sleep, behavioral issues, and more. Nasal breathing is optimal; the nose filters, warms, reduces airflow pressures, and allows the release of nitric oxide—a natural anti-inflammatory that supports overall health.
What is BabyLase / OraLase?
OraLase is a patented therapeutic laser therapy that uses gentle light and warmth to do the following:
- It is the premise for non-surgical tongue-tie releases and minimally invasive surgical releases
- Optimizes cranial nerve function for more optimal muscle control or in babies, helps optimize/coordinate/online reflexes.
- Calms the autonomic nervous system, bringing more calm to the human
- Softens tight sticky fascia under the tongue and facial muscles for more functional muscle movements
- Helps with birth trauma – fascia holds tension from gestational/birth traumas, surgery, or past treatments.
It is non-invasive, well-tolerated, and brings more balance to the nervous system and body.
Why should a tongue-tie release or other frenum surgery be done?
- If the frenum is too short or tight it can limit or restrict muscle mobility leading to oral dysfunction, oral/facial underdevelopment, apneas, breathing issues, forward head posture, and more.
- Kimberly may recommend non-surgical release or a minimally invasive surgical release to optimize function.
- A restricted tongue may lead to:
- Altered feeding and swallowing
- Speech and articulation challenges
- Proper tongue placement against the palate
- A weaker tongue that cannot sustain a separation of the oral and airway compartments and contribute to airway collapse.
- Other tethers—such as lip or cheek ties—may be treated if they limit lip/cheek mobility, lead to lip incompetence (which reinforces mouth-breathing and low tongue posture), thinning gums or impacting muscle function. Releasing the upper lip can also support better nasal breathing.
What makes AirSync unique or different from orthodontic or dental offices?
AirSync is the Pacific Northwest’s first and only fully comprehensive and integrative airway-focused practice. We take a comprehensive, whole-person approach with our trademarked SANO Method™, addressing jaw development, oral and neurological function, soft tissue tension, cranial and neck alignment, airway architecture, and sleep health. Dr. Kimberly evaluates oral posture, tissue ties, palate size, fascia, neurological function , and more to identify root causes. Using her advanced and always continuing education, training and experience, she provides the MOST thorough diagnostic work-up, customized treatment plans, early interventions, and gentle therapies. Most importantly, we achieve lasting improvements in breathing, sleep, and overall wellness.
Why don’t you take insurance at the beginning?
At AirSync, we specialize in something much bigger than orthodontics or dentistry—we’re literally growing and constructing a midface and airway, training you how to breathe, optimizing your nervous system and oral function so that you can breathe and sleep properly, which impacts every system in your body.
- Insurance is designed for sick care, not health creation. Most insurance plans are built to cover basic, short-term procedures—not comprehensive solutions that prevent disease, improve quality of life, and restore optimal function.
- We go beyond the minimum standard of care. Insurance covers “good enough.” At AirSync, we deliver a gold-standard, long-term solution—personalized diagnostics, advanced imaging (CBCT, scans), and multi-phase therapies that rebuild the airway and restore natural function.
- The true value is life changing. Restoring your ability to breathe, sleep deeply, and function at your best affects not only fatigue, but also your brain health, cardiovascular health, growth, mood, and longevity.
In short: insurance is designed to patch problems. AirSync is designed to rebuild wellness at the foundation. That’s why our care is structured as fee-for-service.
Why does it cost what it does?
- AirSync is delivering, thoughtful, complex, interdisciplinary care – airway reconstruction and functional habilitation involve experience, expertise, technology, strategic planning, myofunctional work, neurologic optimization and more. This is not simple moving teeth around.
- We use state-of-the-art tools – CBCT scans, iTero digital impressions, specialized custom appliances, lasers, and more.
- We follow a collaborative team approach – You benefit from collaboration with dentists, sleep physicians, myofunctional therapists, ENTs, and other specialists.
- Long-term outcomes – You’re not just paying for a commodity, you’re investing in a effortless breathing, restorative sleep, and a qualitative future.
